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SYNOPSIS

When it comes to relationships, we're all beginners.

From writer/director Mike Mills comes Beginners, a comedy/drama about how deeply funny and transformative life can be, even at its most serious moments.

Beginners imaginatively explores the hilarity, confusion, and surprises of love through the evolving consciousness of Oliver (Golden Globe Award nominee Ewan McGregor). Oliver meets the irreverent and unpredictable Anna (Mélanie Laurent of Inglourious Basterds) only months after his father Hal Fields (Academy Award nominee Christopher Plummer) has passed away.

This new love floods Oliver with memories of his father, who, following the death of his wife of 45 years, came out of the closet at age 75 to live a full, energized, and wonderfully tumultuous gay life – which included a younger boyfriend, Andy (Goran Visnjic of ER). The upheavals of Hal's new honesty, by turns funny and moving, brought father and son closer than they'd ever been able to be. Now Oliver endeavors to love Anna with all the bravery, humor, and hope that his father taught him.

At once deeply personal and universal, Beginners was inspired by Mike Mills' own father and is meant in turn to inspire everyone weighing their chances and choices in life and love.

A Focus Features and Olympus Pictures presentation in association with Parts & Labor. Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer. Beginners. Mélanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Kai Lennox, Mary Page Keller, Keegan Boos. Casting by Courtney Bright and Nicole Daniels. Music Supervisor, Robin Urdang. Music by Roger Neill, David Palmer, Brian Reitzell. Costume Designer, Jennifer Johnson. Film Editor, Olivier Bugge Coutté. Production Designer, Shane Valentino. Director of Photography, Kasper Tuxen. Co-Producers, Fran Giblin, Geoff Linville. Produced by Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech, Miranda de Pencier, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen. Written & Directed by Mike Mills. A Focus Features Release.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM

  • "charming and unexpected"
    Kate Muir, The Times
  • "McGregor in one of his most assured performances."
    Geoffrey MacNab, The Independent
  • "A never-better Christopher Plummer is simply stupendous, refusing any call to sentiment as he shows us Hal's resonant lunge at life. Writer-director Mike Mills turns 'Beginners' into something more than a movie. Ewan McGregor goes bone-deep in a performance of shining subtlety. 'Beginners' is one from the heart. One of the best pictures of the year."
    Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
  • "Continually surprising, from beginning to end. Christopher Plummer seems to be having the time of his life as an old man in the throes of young love. Writer/Director Mike Mills has a way of making ordinary life feel both unique and familiar, and that infuses the film with many small moments to savor. The filmmakers create a little magic."
    Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times
  • "Endlessly original.' Beginners' is that uncommon movie. It captures how real people behave. The authenticity of the characters and their stories — informed by the life of writer-director Mike Mills— draws us in, as does the powerful chemistry of the lead performances. Christopher Plummer is pitch-perfect. Ewan McGregor in his best performance to date. 4 stars."
    Claudia Puig, USA Today

LATEST NEWS

  • Christopher Plummer has received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 84th Annual Academy Awards
  • Christopher Plummer has received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for the 2012 BAFTA Awards
  • Christopher Plummer has been awarded Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globe Awards
  • Christopher Plummer has received a nomination at the Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actor
  • Christopher Plummer has won an award for Best Supporting Actor from The Online Film Critics Society
  • Christopher Plummer has received a nomination for the London Film Critics Circle 32nd annual Awards for Best Supporting Actor
  • Christopher Plummer has received a nomination for the Chicago Film Critics Association for Best Supporting Actor
  • Christopher Plummer has received a nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Screen Actors Guild Awards
  • Christopher Plummer has won the award for Best Supporting Actor at the Toronto Film Critics Awards
  • Beginners has received 4 nominations from the San Diego Film Critics Association in the following categories: Best Supporting Actress - Mélanie Laurent; Best Supporting Actor - Christopher Plummer; Best Original Screenplay - Mike Mills and Best Editing - Oliver Bugge Coutté
  • Beginners has received 2 nominations at the Detroit Film Critics Society in the following categories: Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay
  • Christopher Plummer has received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the Critics Choice Awards
  • The Los Angeles Film Critics Association have acknowledged Christopher Plummer as Best Supporting Actor for his role in Beginners
  • Christopher Plummer has won The National Board of Review award for Best Supporting Actor
  • Christopher Plummer has received a nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the International Press Academy Satellite Awards
  • Beginners has received 2 Awards at the Gotham Awards in the following categories: Best Feature and Best Ensemble Performance
  • Beginners has received 4 nominations at the Independent Spirit Awards in the following categories: Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Male
  • Christopher Plummer has received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association Awards